The Truth
by Eleantris
Summary: Following the events of The Waters of Mars, The Doctor needed someone to tell him the hard, barefaced truth and so that person came just as he didn't expect it. She came to make him see sense, to realise...that he needs someone. A short One-Shot.


**Hi, here's a little one-shot that basically lets out what I was feeling after watching 'The Waters of Mars' on Sunday. Hope you like it and please review at the end! X =D**

**Disclaimer – I don't own Doctor Who, but I do own the girl in this one-shot. =D**

**The Truth**

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With a grim expression, The Doctor exited the TARDIS in London, 2027, after having set the controls to random. Soft white snow crunched beneath his feet as he walked, hands in his pockets and troubled eyes still reflecting the fire from Mars.

The street was empty and the snow that coated the concrete floor reflected orange in parts where the glow from the streetlights was spilling down onto it. It was early morning and so they hadn't turned off yet, though the sun was not visible behind the dense grey clouds overhead.

The Doctor stopped and looked around, the lines on his forehead deepening as he frowned. It was quiet. Too quiet. The street was deserted, there wasn't a sound anywhere or any sign of movement from the nondescript townhouses that lined the frost covered road.

But upon turning around again, The Doctor spotted a figure in the distance. Slowly, they walked towards him and The Doctor just stared, still frowning as the young girl came into view, approaching him with a purposeful stride.

She couldn't have been any older than fourteen, her forehead still showing signs of the odd spot and her lips chapped from when she absentmindedly picked at them. Her unstylish, dark brown hair just touched her shoulders and her hands rested in the pockets of a lilac raincoat. She looked like a typical, unremarkable teenager, wandering about with nothing else to do.

Yet, there was _something_. Something about her brown eyes that made The Doctor think there was more to her than met the eye. Sure, she was plain as day, but her eyes...they seemed to hold some sort of intelligence, a kind of mature wisdom that The Doctor couldn't fathom.

She had reached him now, and before The Doctor could even question who she was, she had spoken. 'You're right about one thing, Doctor. You did go too far this time.'

He was shocked, to say the least. How on earth did this girl know who he was, or what he'd done? 'Wh...What? How do you know who I am?' He demanded, still frowning at her.

The girl smiled slightly. 'You know me, Doctor...just not quite yet. And you did go too far. Those people's deaths were fixed parts in time; you had no right to change that, Doctor. You know better than to mess with the rules.' She told him in a voice wiser than her years.

The Doctor gritted his teeth at the mention of rules. 'Listen, I don't know who you are, or where you've come from, but let me tell you this. I'm sick of playing by the rules; too many people have died for those rules. I'm the last of the Time-Lords, I _own_ the rules.'

She shook her head and looked back up at him. 'No, Doctor. Just because you're the last one doesn't mean you can break the rules, in fact it's even more important that the rules own _you_. They're there for a reason, Doctor.'

'What ever happened to the phrase 'rules are made to be broken', hm?' The Doctor retaliated, fists curling into balls as his fiery eyes bored into those of the mysterious girl who seemed to know so much. Too much.

'Not these rules, Doctor. They've existed since the dawn of time, there to protect things that are fixed points in time. Those people's deaths were fixed, and however much you didn't want them to be, they just were.' She told him stubbornly, staring back defiantly.

'And what if I don't care?' The Doctor replied dangerously, memories of all those other 'fixed points' flashing before his eyes...so many lives...lives he could have saved.

The unknown girl smiled sadly again. 'But you do care, Doctor. I know you do.' Her eyes searched his meaningfully. 'I knew a phrase once too, someone very wise told it to me. It goes something like this.' She said with a soft sigh before continuing.

'Everybody knows that everybody dies, and nobody knows it quite like The Doctor. Everyone knows that everyone dies. And nobody knows it like the doctor. But I do think, that all the skies in all the worlds might just turn dark, if he ever _accepts_ it.'

The Doctor's haunted eyes widened for a moment, before he narrowed them at her. 'Who are you?' He asked again in a low voice.

'It doesn't matter who I am, it's not important.' She replied evenly, bringing a hand out from the pocket of her raincoat to push back her hair. 'What's important, is that you need someone.'

'No.' The Doctor replied quickly. 'I travel _alone_. I'm like fire, come to close, and you get burned. That's what happened to Sarah-Jane, and Martha, and Donna, and...Rose.' He looked away from the mysterious girl, then back again. 'I don't need anybody.'

'Oh yes you do, Doctor.' She told him softly. 'Sometimes, you get carried away with something, and in that big brilliant brain of yours, you forget.'

'I forget what?' The Doctor interrupted, his hard voice possessing a bitter edge.

The girl sighed and looked up at him again, straight into his tortured eyes. 'You forget where to stop. And that's why you need someone. Sometimes, Doctor...you need someone to tell you when to stop.'

The Doctor's face grew hard and his expression grim as he remembered all the times he had almost got carried away and there had been someone to stop him. Donna, Sarah-Jane, Martha...Rose. All there to stop his flawed brilliancy from getting the better of him, before it was too late.

'You're right.' He admitted quietly, his voice barely a whisper as the girl smiled.

'I usually am.' She said while he smiled a little too. 'I'm sorry, Doctor. But I've got to go.'

'No, wait! You never told me who you are! What's your name?!' The Doctor exclaimed, stepping forward as she very slowly began to appear translucent.

Her smile broke into a grin. 'My name's Sophie. Sophie Tyler.'

_Tyler._ His eyes widened as he reached out for her. 'No, don't go! Who was your mother, Sophie?! What's her name?!'

But it was too late, she had already faded and only the memories of her wide grin remained. Because The Doctor knew that grin. That was _his _grin. But it also had a very small, very subtle addition...

It was his grin, but her tongue had also poked out from between her teeth, just a little way.

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**In a few weeks, I will be starting a Twilight/Torchwood fic, but I'm unsure of what to call it. I would be really grateful if you'd quickly go on my profile and vote on my poll as to what to entitle it. Thanks.**

**Review?**


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